World leading ANU scientists recognised among nation s best
25 May 2021
A plant biologist and geochemist from The Australian National University (ANU) have both been recognised for their outstanding contributions to their fields of science.
Professor Dorrit Jacob s work is diverse, covering everything from how certain molluscs produce pearls, to how diamonds form deep inside the Earth s mantle.
She s a pioneer in the emerging field of biomineralisation - or how living organisms produce minerals - and recently joined ANU as the first female director of the Research School of Earth Sciences.
Professor Barry Pogson s innovative research has helped us better understand how plant cells communicate with each other about changes in their environment, paving the way for more drought resilient crops.
Ancestral dormant genes could be driving cancer
21 May 2021
Despite decades of research, cancer remains an enigma.
Conventional wisdom holds that cancer is driven by random mutations that create aberrant cells that run amok in the body.
In a new paper published this week in the journal
BioEssays, researchers from The Australian National University and Arizona State University challenge this model.
Instead, they argue cancer is a type of genetic throwback that progresses via a series of reversions to ancestral forms of life.
In contrast with the conventional model, the researchers say the distinctive capabilities of cancer cells are not primarily generated by mutations but are pre-existent and lie dormant in normal cells.
Confidence in government among voters drops
14 May 2021
For the first time since the pandemic commenced, the majority of Australians no longer have confidence in the government
There has been a very large decline in confidence in Federal Government among Australian voters , new analysis from The Australian National University (ANU) shows, with those declines linked closely to views on sexual assault and harassment in the workplace.
The longitudinal survey of 3,200 adults also found there has been a large drop in the number of Australians who say they would vote for the Coalition.
Collected in April 2021 but linked to responses from the same individuals all the way back to prior to the pandemic, the survey forms part of the COVID-19 monitoring program led by the ANU Centre for Social Research Methods (CSRM), and is the largest study of its kind in Australia.
Alien radioactive element prompts creation rethink
14 May 2021
The first-ever discovery of an extraterrestrial radioactive isotope on Earth has scientists rethinking the origins of the elements on our planet.
The tiny traces of plutonium-244 were found in ocean crust alongside radioactive iron-60. The two isotopes are evidence of violent cosmic events in the vicinity of Earth millions of years ago.
Star explosions, or supernovae create many of the heavy elements in the periodic table, including those vital for human life, such as iron, potassium and iodine.
To form even heavier elements, such as gold, uranium and plutonium it was thought that a more violent event may be needed, such as two neutron stars merging.
Ancient humans not to blame for mass island extinction
4 May 2021
Human arrival had minimal impacts on biodiversity loss.
An international research team has debunked a popular theory that ancient humans caused mass animal and plant extinctions on newly inhabited islands.
Archaeologists and palaeontologists, including from Griffith University and The Australian National University (ANU), compared records of human arrival and extinctions on islands spanning the past 2.6 million years, finding little overlap between the two events.
Co-researcher and ANU Professor Sue O Connor said the evidence did not reveal early modern humans to be the destructive agents that they re often portrayed to be .